The Husky baseball team is facing a do-or-die weekend. After failing to put up a fight against Arizona in its previous series, the Huskies must now win out to even have a chance at the postseason.

Washington (27-26, 9-12) needs some help from other teams in the conference, but a sweep of California this weekend is needed for the Huskies to even be considered by the College World Series selection committee.

"There's still a chance that we can get in, based on some other teams," third baseman Matt Hague said. "All we know is that we need to win games. It's out of our control as far as the playoffs go. All we can do is take care of ourselves."

For the Huskies, that means taking care of business at home.

While the road has been a constant struggle for Washington (7-17 away from Husky Ballpark), the friendly confines of the home field has led to success against some of the better teams in the nation, including Oregon State (2-1) and UC Riverside (3-0).

This weekend will not provide a significant challenge, with the Bears (28-24, 11-10) visiting Seattle, but a sweep over the fourth-place Pac-10 team could do wonders for Washington's postseason hopes.

"We're just going to go out there and play baseball," Hague said. "We're going to take what we've been working hard on in practice, and try and take the next series."

The greatest part of that task will begin tonight, when the Huskies square off against sophomore Tyson Ross. Cal's ace has been maligned by a lack of run support — shown by his 5-6 record — but he is still nearly impossible to hit off. Ross boasts a 2.46 ERA, and opponents are only batting .238 off the right-handed hurler.

"He's one of the top guys in our league, if not the nation," UW pitcher Jason Erickson said. "He's going to be tough. There aren't going to be many runs scored [tonight]."

Erickson, who will take the hill for the Huskies in game one against Ross, knows that his performance could affect the outcome of the game as much as anything.

"My game plan is not going to change," Erickson said. "I'm going to go out there and try to shut the other team out. Hopefully my defense can play well behind me, and we can get a win."

Pitching has been the Achilles' heel of Washington as of late, as the team's hurlers were shelled for 37 runs during three games against the Wildcats. If the team can get into the later innings with a lead, though, it will be able to hand the ball off to reliable lefty Nick Hagadone, who was named to the All-Pac-10 team yesterday.

Part of that will be the job of the offense, which has had success in recent weeks, but will need to continue that trend against Cal.

Hague, senior Curt Rindal and sophomore Ty Rasmussen have not lacked power this season, which could bode well for the team as the weather heats up.

Whether it be the pitching, the offense or a combination of the two, the Huskies will need a sterling performance in order to play past Sunday.

"We're going to be a lot more hungry," Erickson said. "We still have hope, and now we're going to try and earn a playoff berth."

Reach reporter Justin Chartrey at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.